Sunday 12 July 2009

Updating my playlist

Decided it was about time to update the music I am listening to on my iShuffle (iPods are over-rated - all I want to do is listed to music) and decided to add in a few albums I've not listened to for a while. Adding the following into my iTunes library:

Chris Rea - Auberge
Act - Laughter, Tears and Rage
Genesis - Duke
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love

Then I need to decide what to take off the iShuffle, what to leave on and more importantly what to add.

This may take a while to do! I was using the iShuffle to listen to while exercising so a lot of the tunes were fast paced but now I want to use it solely for my walk to work along the banks of the River Clyde so just need good music really. I've got really wide tastes in music ranging from Opera to rock with everything in-between (except Punk that sucked!) so the choice is huge. My big constraint is the space on my laptop, photography and music both take up a lot of space.

This could take a while!


Thursday 11 June 2009

And so it starts

Today marks the start of the rollout of some new software at work. I've been itching to get going for months now but have been delayed waiting on approval of policies. Keen to get in and start the whole process. Inform staff of what's coming and what they need to do - activate IM in their existing clients and then push out the new client to them. Will take a few weeks to complete but will be a valuable exercise in ensuring the full roll-out to the rest of the company goes smoothly.

Tuesday 9 June 2009

Web 2.0

After spending ages wondering what all the fuss was about Twitter I now get it. As long as you don't overdo things and only post a reasonable amount and some of that useful to others I think it is a very useful tool (if you can call it that?).

Not sure if I'm ready to contribute too much at this point so initially my tweets will be a bit lame but once I get into the frame of mind for choosing the right things to post, I'll start contributing.

Hope to see you out there!

Monday 1 June 2009

Scottish weather?

I really can't believe it, yet another scorcher of a day. When I went to get in the car to come home from work I was hit with a blast of extremely hot air when I opened the door. Driving back with both front windows open and the sunroof open and the air coming in was still very warm. Probably in for a good electric storm soon but with no sign of clouds at the moment I doubt it will be tonight.

Was in a VC earlier on in the day and it was like a sauna in the room. Thank goodness I was on my own and had some ice cold water to drink.

Sunday 31 May 2009

Boggle eyed 2

Woke up this morning at 6.30ish and picked up my work laptop to start coding and have only just put it down (excluding comfort breaks). Feeling really boggle eyed now! ;-D

Probably find it difficult to get to sleep tonight what with my brain going 200mph. Up early too as I'm off to Dalkeith for one of my twice weekly visits. If the weather stays good I may go for a walk in the park at lunchtime.

Saturday 30 May 2009

Boggle eyed

Just finished a long stint on my laptop coding a Lotus Notes application for work, about 8 hours worth (minus distractions from SWMBO). Still a way to go yet but it'll be a slicker, quicker application this time round. Previous years were a bit clunky due to the complexity of the process we were following but this time it's so much simpler so the code will be nice and simple too. :)

Going to bed now but will no doubt pick up again in the morning. Yawn!

Isn't it a wonderful day for a walk in the rain?

Well no actually.  Stunned to have a second fantastically hot and sunny day and it's meant to continnue until at least Tuesday.  Whoo hoo!

Just back from our weekly food shopping.  We're eating more healthily these days so first stop was Grass Roots and then off to Sainsburys in Hamilton as they have the widest selection of organic produce in the Glasgow area.  Costs a wee bit more but with none of those nasty additives I've been feeling much better lately.

Now looking forward to a lunch of chicken and cabbage, stir fried in coconut oil.  Hmm mmm 

Friday 29 May 2009

The best laid plans...

A well, doesn't it always happen that someone changes the day you had planned and you end up getting nothing constructive done?  Happened today and as a result I'll now have to catch-up over this weekend, just when the weather is starting to turn really nice.

Was at the hospital this afternoon having my frozen shoulder expertly looked after by Shona.  When I got home SWMBO suggested we take a short walk.  After agreeing to this the walk suddenly became a long walk to the shops for some bits and bobs she needed to make tonights curry.  Mmmm.

We ended up coming back a totally different way from the way we went and my poor feet are paying the price.  I'm not built for walking so I'm enjoying putting my feet up while the kitchen wizard chops, dices and mixes her raw ingredients and produces yet another mouth watering dish.  So much better than the shop bought sauces or take away meals from nearby outlets.

Once that has been digested (and I feel a bit more relaxed) I'm going to get my laptop out and see how much of that work I can do tonight.

LCTY09

Spent yesterday in Edinburgh at the "Lotusphere Comes To You" event which was held in the Caledonian Hotel.  Well done IBM for hosting such a great event.

Turned up unfashionably early (08:20) as traffic coming through from Glasgow was unusually light and the threatened traffic chaos due to the Edinburgh City tram project failed to materialise so was able to have a short walk and grab a Costa coffee to get the day started.

Thought I was the only person from work attending, with one of my colleagues from software development meant to be attending but I hadn't had that confirmed when I spot two of them not long after arriving at the hotel.  Then my boss turned up- turns out he was a guest speaker but hadn't mentioned it!

Ed Brill kicked things off with yet another excellent turn (his blog is good too!) and then we listened to two customer cases (one of them my boss) which were illuminating.  It's good to hear what others are doing, especially when their company throws some resources behind the support team!

We then split into two streams, which normally means that my company miss out on tons of information as I am the only attendee, but this time we had it well covered.  Presentations were of good length, so there was a lot of information presented, and as usual were very interesting.  Took lots of notes and will be trying some stuff out today when I get into work.  If I get time (and am allowed) I'll tweet about it as I go along but will definitely post something on my work blog.

Looking forward now to the UK Lotus User Group meeting.